After years of conflict, Council to vote on waste equity bill

After years of languishing in the City Council, a bill aimed at reducing the amount of trash processed in overburdened districts will go up for a Wednesday floor vote.

The bill, Intro 157, would target four districts — located in north Brooklyn, southeast Queens and the south Bronx — that handle 64 percent of the waste collected by the city’s private carting industry. The legislation has been a top priority for Council Member Antonio Reynoso, and recent backing from Speaker Corey Johnson could finally push the controversial measure over the finish line.

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But the bill is far less aggressive than prior versions of the legislation, highlighting how industry lobbying has curtailed a significant piece of legislation championed by environmental groups and community activists. Intro 157 is likely to only result in waste reductions in half of the transfer stations targeted in the bill. And the way the bill is written, it’s not clear whether residents will witness a noticeable decline in the amount of trash being hauled into their district.

However, proponents note that the legislation would prevent an increase in the amount of trash handled in overburdened districts, ensuring things won’t get worse later on. Additionally, it should reduce the number of trucks moving trash within districts, reducing congestion and pollution.

In an interview, Reynoso acknowledged the bill is less effective, but said it will help hold the industry to a higher standard.

“It is less effective than the original legislation,” Reynoso told POLITICO Tuesday. “What we are doing is starting to move pieces around to allow for what we consider good employers and people that recycle or organizations that recycle and work on rail and on barge to get a leg up on everyone else.”

There are three types of waste transfer stations in New York City: putrescible, non-putrescible and fill. Reynoso’s bill doesn’t target fill stations, which handle construction debris like dirt, concrete and sand. Facilities that transfer the majority of their waste via rail are also exempted from the bill.

Intro 157 would reduce the permitted capacity, or the amount of waste that could potentially be handled, at stations targeted in the bill. It calls for a 33 percent capacity reduction for Queens and Bronx districts and a 50 percent capacity reduction for Brooklyn districts.

An earlier version, Intro 495, had called for an 18 percent reduction in the actual amount of waste handled in the four districts the bill targets — not just potential capacity. After facing vehement opposition from industry leaders, Council members revised the language to call for a reduction in permitted capacity. However, many of the stations already operate beneath that threshold.

There are 26 waste transfer stations — of the 38 total — that are located in the community districts targeted by the legislation. Of those, only 12 would have to reduce the amount of waste they handle to ensure they didn’t exceed their new permitted capacity.

In total, more than 2,500 tons per day will need to move to other facilities according to an environmental impact analysis of the bill.

However, the 12 affected stations could still choose to go to other facilities within their same district to process their waste. For example, an affected Bronx facility could theoretically transport some of its trash to IESI at Casanova — another facility in the Bronx — because it has extra capacity.

The downside of that system is that trash could theoretically ping-pong within a district — getting shuttled from one facility with less capacity to a neighboring one with more.

However, the stations with the most excess capacity are rail stations, and increased use of rail stations will decrease the use of the long haul trucks. On average, trucks at other stations will move the waste from the transfer stations to landfills that are, on average, 300 miles away in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia.

“We see this bill as preventing things from getting any worse than they are and encouraging other forms of long-haul transport, primarily rail,” said Asher Freeman, Reynoso’s Legislative and Land Use Director.

The impact statement factored in predicted growth in daily usage over the next few years. In fact, with the predicted growth, five facilities will exceed their permitted capacity even if this law doesn’t pass and their permit doesn’t change.

Those reductions could be even less severe in nature depending on if waste transfer stations take advantage of a carve out in the bill, which stipulates that capacity would be preserved for processing organics and recyclables like glass and plastic.

Reynoso said the bill will benefit facilities that follow good industry practices like recycling.

“What we’re doing is retooling the system so that if you’re going to do work here we want the good people to be doing that work,” Reynoso said.

Despite several concessions, Intro 157 is still drawing opposition from some Council Members in affected districts. The bill currently has 23 sponsors, three shy of the minimum needed to pass.

Three sources told POLITICO that Council Member I. Daneek Miller got in a heated disagreement with Reynoso at the Democratic caucus conference last Wednesday, arguing that the bill was being rushed through the Council. Miller, who has waste transfer stations in his district, is said to have blocked Intro 495 from going up for a vote in December.

Miller and Council Member Adrienne Adams, another Queens Democrat, pulled out as sponsors last week. Adams didn’t return a request for comment.

When asked about the Wednesday exchange, Miller said he expressed disappointment to Reynoso over the bill being rapidly pushed forward without his knowledge.

“To not be contacted and not be a part of this is not the way this institution does business and that is an absolutely bad precedent to happen,” Miller said. “I merely spoke to the disingenuousness that had occurred.”

Although there has been last-minute movement, sources close to the legislative process expect it to pass on Wednesday. After Miller and Adams pulled their support, the bill gained two new sponsors: Council Members Keith Powers and Diana Ayala.

Council Member Rafael Salamanca is also a sponsor of the legislation — a crucial get for bill supporters as he represents parts of the South Bronx, including Hunts Point, where the Metropolitan Waste Transfer Station is located. Metropolitan is among the most trafficked of the stations.

“This bill has faced significant political obstacles during my time in the City Council, having been introduced under three different speakers,” Reynoso said at a Sanitation Committee hearing on Tuesday. “However, I know my colleagues understand the deep inequities present in our current system and I trust that they will join me in delivering a measure of justice that has eluded these communities for too long.”

This story contains an interactive map showing the current waste transfer stations with their permitted capacity and average daily waste in 2017. Underneath are the City Council districts. If you are reading this in your inbox, click on the link in the alert in the bottom of the email to see the story with the graphic.